Believe me, my workplace is no accounting firm. No vests, watch fobs and butter-smooth shoes in this joint.

Clothing is a big issue in workplaces these days. After all, we're at the height of the Casual Friday fad, in which people can dress down on Fridays and not be couture criminals. Sears, Roebuck and Co. and a few other big companies have even instituted "everyday casual."

In the five years since the Casual Fridays fad took root, sales of traditional business attire have fallen by as much as 20 percent. In Chicago, the change has hurt dress-up kingpins Bigsby & Kruthers, and helped send Mark Shale into bankruptcy.

Casual dress codes are a fad because they give people a sense of freedom.

But think about it: Isn't "casual dress code" a contradiction in terms? It's tough to dictate freedom from the corner office.

What do rebels do on casual Fridays --wear suits?

Besides, dress-casual policies don't change who we are, or what we do. What it does change is our ability to know those things about people with a quick glance from head to toe.

Like any change, it doesn't always go over well.

There are plenty of people who don't like the casual fad. At one New Jersey advertising agency, people have initiated Formal Fridays, because they're tired of dealing with jeans-clad clients.

Some women executives complain that Everyday Casual rules can rob them of a key cue that they're part of the power structure. In executive suites where, unfortunately, most of the players still are men and most of the women are staff, a power wardrobe can help to visually distinguish them.

People find it confusing when the CEO declares a get-casual policy but continues to dress in Brooks Brothers suits. What should a middle manager do--dress like the boss talks, or like the boss looks?

It was far easier to understand the rules from the gray flannel era than the new, unwritten code of the wear-what-you-will age. People will have to make adjustments to help define themselves, and their work, by more than what they wear.

My day in the amazing technicolor work shirt was not without incident. But in its own way, that shirt told people something about me that even the boldest tie can't say.

A workplace with fewer rules can be confusing and challenging. There's room for error and for excitement. But if we can force ourselves to take risks even on something as simple as our wardrobe, maybe casual dress breeds the kind of thinking that can bust the seams off conventional decision-making.

And to think none of this would have occurred to me if all my pinpoint oxfords weren't at the dry cleaner.